This invention relates generally to a “sharps” container sized to receive or hold only one (a single) used medical pen needle (sometimes hereafter referred to as a “PN”) and specifically to a sharps container sized to hold only one used PN which provides the safe (no-touch) insertion of said single PN into the container for safe storage therein. The container can also be used, initially, for the safe storage and dispensing of a single unused medical pen needle.
Because of well known health issues, the safe disposal of syringes and other “sharps” has long been a high priority for medical related professional facilities and industries. Prior art sharps containers are frequently found in public venues such as hospitals, medical clinics, and retail establishments. These containers are usually securely attached to some base means and may have a lock means to permit controlled and safe removal of used “sharps.”
There are also prior art “portable” sharps containers for syringes, examples being U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,409,113; 5,494,158 and 6,685,017 showing sharps containers which necessarily are large because of the size of the elongated syringes.
Medical delivery pens (hereinafter sometimes “MDPs”) have, more recently, become widely used instead of, or in addition to, syringes, e.g., by diabetics, who frequently inject themselves several times a day with accurately measured, adjustable, pre-selected amounts of insulin or other medication. MDPs are popular with many people for several reasons including the convenience of compact carrying cases which can fit into a purse or equivalent. Medical delivery pens include a reservoir of medication and a distal end adapted to be attached (usually by thread means) to a pen needle assembly (PNA). As is well known (see, for example FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,145), the pen needle assembly has a pen needle (PN) within an outer, generally cylindrical shield 28. The PN comprises a hub having a cylindrical wall extending axially from a radially extending bottom portion. An axially extending hollow needle 21 is centrally positioned on the bottom portion (i) the proximal end 24 of which punctures a seal in the distal end 16 of the medical delivery pen 10 (to allow the flow therethrough of medication) when the delivery pen is screwed into the proximal end of the pen needle cylindrical housing 26, and (ii) the distal end 22 of which is for insertion into tissue of the person requiring the medication. The pen needle assemblies typically include a removable thin sterile seal covering the proximal (large diameter) end of the said outer shield and a removable tube-like shield covering the distal portion of the hollow needle. The assembled pen needle assembly is then factory sterilized. The user of a pen needle assembly typically holds the PNA in one hand; removes the sterile seal from the outer shield; screws the distal end of the MDP into the proximal or hub end of the PN; removes the outer and tube-like shields from the PN; sets the medical delivery pen for the desired dose of medication; and then inserts the distal end of the hollow needle into the target tissue following which the MDP is actuated to deliver the desired dose of medication through the hollow needle into said tissue.
Many diabetics routinely administer medication to themselves several times a day by injection of a pre-selected quantity of insulin (or substitute medication) in liquid form. The correct amount of medication can be determined from prior professional medical instruction or by use of small, compact, and convenient portable blood analysis kits which provide rapid indicators of the user's blood sugar level. The several daily injections are often done away from the diabetic's primary home or residence which has fostered widespread use of the portable, convenient medical delivery pens. The aforesaid testing kits and the medical delivery pens are relatively small in size and, as indicated, can easily and conveniently accompany the person. A typical scenario for a diabetic at a restaurant is, prior to a mean, to first use the blood sugar testing kit to obtain an indicator of his or her blood sugar level. This information then facilitates programming or adjusting the medical delivery pen to deliver the desired quantity of medication. Then the MDP with an attached PN is used to inject the medication. These steps require a relatively short length of time and can be done with minimum loss of privacy.
MDPs are also widely used by doctors, nurses and other professionals in performance of their duties. Many individuals will request (sometimes insist) that an injection be done with a PN rather than a syringe. The aforementioned professionals are especially mindful of possible dangers from possible unwanted “sticks” that occur in the professional world.
In a perfect world, the user (both individual and professional) of a pen needle would, after the first use of a PN attached to a MDP, carefully detach the used PN from the MDP and safely dispose said used PN in a sharps container. The approved procedure is (i) insertion of the distal end of the needle of the PN into the tube-like shield (sometimes omitted) and thence the shielded needle and PN cylindrical housing (hub) into the outer shield (to form a PNA), (ii) unscrewing of the medical delivery pen from the proximal end of the pen needle cylindrical housing, and (iii) careful placement of the “used” PNA into a safe sharps container.
Alas, the recommended procedure is not always followed. Used (and potentially dangerous) PNs or PNAs are routinely left in unsafe places where third parties may unwittingly be “stuck.” Examples of such unsafe places are purses, the pockets on the back of aircraft seats, private and public wastebaskets, garbage cans, dumpsters and empty milk or other unsafe containers.
Further, the above described disposal procedure requires that the MDP user (or associate) handle or hold the PN while the MDP is unscrewed therefrom. This creates the possibility of a potentially dangerous “stick.” Further, if the user (or associate) tries to insert the used PN into the outer shield to form a PNA, then additional handling is again required with the possibility of a “stick”
One prior art example of a container for unused and used pen needle assemblies is U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,145 which shows a tube containing a small number of unused pen needle assemblies arranged in axial alignment. This patent also teaches that, as unused assemblies are removed from one end of the tube, then a used assembly may be inserted into the tube from the other end. The tube is adapted to be attached to the side of a medical delivery pen. This arrangement has significant shortcomings. Potentially dangerous “sticks” could occur when a user (or associate) tries to insert a used PN (with or without the protective outer shield) into the used end of the tube.
The present invention provides a totally “no-touch” means for a MDP user of PNs to transfer a used PN from a MDP into a unique used PN sharps container for safe storage therein without, as indicated, any touching of the used PN by the user. Providing a small, compact and safe sharps container for only one, i.e., single used PN has significant cost and functional advantages as compared with the much larger and thus somewhat cumbersome prior art “bulk” sharps containers. Alternately, the same container may be used, in combination with a MDP, as a container for a single unused medical pen needle.